17,000 x 4= 68,000 of thrust per side. That is not even in GE90 territory yet.Just attach a GE90 on each side and call it a day I say
17,000 x 4= 68,000 of thrust per side. That is not even in GE90 territory yet.Just attach a GE90 on each side and call it a day I say
Allison Engine and Transmission were once the same until GM divested from turbines. GM kept Allison Transmission and Detroit Diesel until the latter was sold to Penske(and now Daimler) and the former was sold to a equity firm. GM wanted to use turbines to power cars, like Chrysler did.
In the Bay Area, Allison hybrid bus drivetrains didn’t really take off. BAE Systems enjoys the Bay Area client base(SFMTA/AC Transit/VTA).
SFMTA(SF Muni) went with the series hybrid BAE Systems HybriDrive system - while the engine is running at all times, it’s a smaller engine(similar as the Cummins B-series engines used in a Dodge Ram 2500/3500) and has better acceleration up hills along with an pure electric drive to the wheels - the ICE isn’t connected to the wheels at any time, unlike the Allison system or a Prius(or any Toyota-based parallel-split hybrid system).I do clearly remember the controversy over AC Transit buying Van Hool when Gillig was right there in Hayward. I rode on a lot of AC Transit Gillig buses from jr high to college, and I rather liked them. But they had a director who seemed to be convinced that "European" was better. Not sure why they didn't go with the Allison system for their hybrid buses, but I don't think that particular choice was quite as controversial.
A GE90/9X would have involved a lot of clever engineering for it to be installed.17,000 x 4= 68,000 of thrust per side. That is not even in GE90 territory yet.
The ol' BUFF is going to get a work out and become even more BUFF!
These new efficient engines and their management system will not only greatly increase the BUFF's range and loiter time, but it will surely take a bit of the workload off the tanker fleet, which benefits the entire force.
I think the choices from Pratt & Whitney and General Electric probably would have provided similar benefits. I know there's going to be some criticism of going with Rolls even though they provide a ton of American jobs.
Yep, I was there as well. Crew Chief on the B52s.One of my friends was a crew Chief on a B52 during the Cambodia bombings/ Vietnam war, He told me stories that amazing to say the least. I am glad I wasn't there. The people in the military are braver than I could ever be !
I was a crew chief on B52s in the early 70's, those things leaked like a sieve. You never had a pair of fatigues without oil stains on them.Years ago I went to an airshow at Andrews AFB. It was a hot day and the only shade was under the B-52's wings. I joined others for a bit of shade but it was dripping hydralic fluid like a light rain. I asked one of the AF guys about it and he told me that was normal. They just made sure the fluid was topped off before a mission.
The B-52 could be modified to fly with 4 engines, of course. It would require changes to the support, both the pylon and throughout the wing and into the fuselage, but it could be done. The very design of the B-52, however, lends itself to operating with 8 engines rather than 4. The B-52 has an exceptionally small rudder, offering a 10% chord when most aircraft have at least 25%. Why this is dates all the way back to the early designs of the aircraft and the failure to realize the desired "all moving tail" design, but the end result was what we see today- a large aircraft with a rudder so small that it is incapable of providing "crab" maneuvering during cross-wind landings, which coincidentally led Boeing to develop the yaw-adjustable cross-wind landing gear. This rudder design also meant that the B-52 was especially susceptible to asymmetrical thrust in an engine-out event. Having 8 engines, producing lower amounts of thrust each, mitigated this problem.
Here's an interesting article about the B-52 that lost nearly all of it's vertical stabilizer while testing the effects of turbulence at low levels, yet was able to fly from East Spanish Peak, CO all the way to Blytheville AFB in Arkansas.
LINK